Apparatus and method for warning and prevention of vehicle collisions

Abstract

The invention teaches a passive vehicle rear end warning and collision prevention method and apparatus thereof, comprising: a traveling data monitoring unit serving to monitor and sample the traveling data of present vehicle; a collision prevention information transmitting and receiving unit serving to transmit and receive the collision prevention information; an electronic control unit serving to analyze and process the sampled data so as to generate the collision prevention information and to receive the collision prevention information from other vehicle, and to control the traveling status of prevent vehicle based on the received collision prevention information so as to avoid rear end collision with other vehicle, so that the purpose of rear end warning and collision prevention is realized by receiving passively the collision prevention information from another vehicle.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to the field of vehicle collision prevention technology, and more particularly, to passive vehicle rear end warning and collision prevention technology, and specifically, to an apparatus and method for warning and prevention of vehicle rear end collisions.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Vehicle rear end warning and collision prevention is an important technological area in vehicle safety. The main reasons for vehicle rear end collision are: 1) insufficient travel distances between two vehicles; 2) adverse traveling environment, such as poor visibility due to rain, fog or snow; 3) emergency conditions such as punctured tire or broken axle; and 4) insufficient visibility of vehicles stalled on the way or pulled off to the road side.[0003]In view of reasons 1), 2), and 3), an important factor contributing to collisions is the lag time in applying brakes or other contingency measures resulting from the brake reaction time of the driver...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]In certain embodiments of the invention, another function of the electronic control unit (ECU) is to compare the received collision prevention information with the relevant traveling data of the present vehicle so as to determine the traveling direction; to determine the distance range according to the intensity of the collision prevention joint control signal; to compare the speed data of collision prevention information with the real speed of the present vehicle so as to determine whether or not to request passing over; and to output the traveling status control command or drive power according to the predetermined program so as to adjust and control the traveling status of the present vehicle to avoid rear end collision.

[0022]Another important reason causing rear end collisions is that the safety traveling distance between two vehicles is not well kept. When the distance between two vehicles is within the range of 50 m, once the preceding vehicle is emergently braked or collided, the present vehicle is not able to be braked within 1-2 s due to the physiological limitation of the driver, resulting in 30-50 m deadhead traveling distance such that the driver can do nothing to avoid the occurrence of rear end collision. With the technology of the invention, within the distance of 50 m, the emergent brake of the preceding vehicle can jointly control the brake of the following vehicle, so that the physiological limitation of the driver is remedied, and thus the occurrence of the rear end collision is avoided.

Problems solved by technology

The main reasons for vehicle rear end collision are: 1) insufficient travel distances between two vehicles; 2) adverse traveling environment, such as poor visibility due to rain, fog or snow; 3) emergency conditions such as punctured tire or broken axle; and 4) insufficient visibility of vehicles stalled on the way or pulled off to the road side.

The accidents due to the brake delay caused by the brake reaction time are dreadful; the driver cannot brake the vehicle effectively when the distance is in the range of 20-60 m resulting in rear end collision accidents.

However, the existing technology has such problems as the blind area or the dead angle existing in distance scanning and detection, complicated system, poor reliability and high cost.

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